A spin-transfer torque MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) including a magnetoresistive element containing a ferromagnetic material as a memory element has been proposed. This MRAM is a memory that stores data by controlling the electrical resistance of the magnetoresistive element to two states, i.e., a high-resistance state and low-resistance state by changing the magnetization direction in a magnetic layer by using a current to be supplied to the magnetoresistive element.
In the MRAM, a memory cell is formed between a bit line and source line. The memory cell includes a selection transistor, and a magnetoresistive element connected in series with this selection transistor. To increase the degree of integration and the degree of micropatterning of memory cells like this, it is necessary to set the area of the memory cell at 4F2 as a feature size (minimum processing dimensions).